War correspondents from pro-Kremlin media like Alexander Kots, below, and Dmitry Steshin of the popular Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid are also in Syria, warning of the threat ISIS poses to Russia.

On Friday, Kots and Steshin wrote that Russia was preparing to support a Syrian operation aimed at recapturing the road between the cities of Hama and Homs, which would be the largest offensive from Bashar al-Assad's regime in some time.

On Friday, the defense ministry published video of what it said included strikes on the city of Raqqa, ISIS' capital — marking the first time they have acknowledged attacking the group.

But there's an answer for everything — even when non-ISIS militant groups declared war on Russia in response. "Whatever, we'll fuck you up," tweeted Igor Korotchenko, a prominent ultranationalist military expert.

Max Seddon is a correspondent for BuzzFeed World based in Berlin. He has reported from Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and across the ex-Soviet Union and Europe. His secure PGP fingerprint is 6642 80FB 4059 E3F7 BEBE 94A5 242A E424 92E0 7B71